Substrate Processing System and Trolley

This application is a bypass continuation application of international application No. PCT/JP2024/003012 having an international filing date of Jan. 31, 2024 and designating the United States, the international application being based upon and claiming the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-020311, filed on Feb. 13, 2023, the entire contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.

The present disclosure relates to a substrate processing system and a trolley.

PTL 1 discloses a system including a wafer transfer assembly that includes a robot therein configured to engage, lift, and transfer a wafer, processing modules connected to the wafer transfer assembly, and a service tunnel defined below the wafer transfer assembly. The service tunnel provides access to undersides of a wafer transfer module to repair the robot.

PTL 2 discloses a substrate processing system including processing chambers and power source system units disposed below the processing chambers, respectively, and individually supplying power to the processing chambers. In the substrate processing system disclosed in PTL 2, during maintenance, a unit to be maintained is lifted by a crane and transferred along a rail disposed to protrude outward from an end of the processing chamber.

A technique according to the present disclosure provides a substrate processing system in which a unit can be accessed from below a vacuum transfer module and a trolley that can be appropriately moved to below the vacuum transfer module with a transfer robot provided in the vacuum transfer module placed thereon.

An aspect of the present disclosure is a substrate processing system including: a vacuum transfer module extending along a longitudinal direction of the substrate processing system, the vacuum transfer module having a first side surface, a second side surface on a side opposite to the first side surface, and a bottom surface, the bottom surface having an opening, a distance from the opening to the first side surface being larger than a distance from the opening to the second side surface, substrate processing modules including first substrate processing modules connected to the first side surface of the vacuum transfer module and second substrate processing modules connected to the second side surface of the vacuum transfer module, a lower space defined between the first substrate processing modules and the second substrate processing modules below the vacuum transfer module, a transfer robot detachably attached to the vacuum transfer module to close the opening, configured to transfer a substrate in the vacuum transfer module, and configured to be taken out from the opening into the lower space, a first rail attached to the first substrate processing modules to extend along the longitudinal direction in the lower space, and a second rail attached to the second substrate processing modules to extend along the longitudinal direction in the lower space.

According to the present disclosure, a substrate processing system in which a unit can be accessed from below a vacuum transfer module and a trolley that can be appropriately moved to below the vacuum transfer module with a transfer robot provided in the vacuum transfer module placed thereon can be provided.

In a step of producing a semiconductor device, an inside of a substrate processing module accommodating a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “substrate”) is brought into a pressure-reduced (vacuum) state, and various types of plasma processing such as etching processing and post-processing are performed on the substrate. The plasma processing is performed by using a processing system including a vacuum transfer module that transfers the substrate under reduced pressure and the substrate processing modules disposed adjacent to the vacuum transfer module.

PTL 1 discloses that providing access to the undersides of the wafer transfer module through the service tunnel to repair the robot disposed in the wafer transfer assembly, but does not describe or suggest loading or unloading the robot itself from the undersides of the wafer transfer module. PTL 2 also does not describe or suggest loading or unloading the substrate transfer robot into or from the vacuum transfer module.

A technique according to the present disclosure has been made in view of the above-described circumstances and provides a substrate processing system in which a unit can be accessed from below a vacuum transfer module and a trolley that can be appropriately moved to below the vacuum transfer module with a transfer robot provided in the vacuum transfer module placed thereon. Hereinafter, a substrate processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals will be given to elements having substantially the same functional configurations throughout the specification and the drawings, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

First, a configuration of the substrate processing system according to the present embodiment will be described.are plan view and perspective view, respectively, illustrating a schematic configuration of a substrate processing systemaccording to the present embodiment.are cross-sectional views illustrating, respectively, an A cross-section and a B cross-section of the perspective view of the substrate processing systemillustrated in. A wafer is an example of a substrate.

As illustrated in, the substrate processing systemhas a configuration in which an atmospheric portionand a decompression portionare integrally connected through a load-lock module. The atmospheric portionincludes an atmospheric module that processes and/or transfers a substrate W under an atmospheric atmosphere. The decompression portionincludes a decompression module (vacuum module) that processes and/or transfers the substrate W in a decompressed (vacuum) atmosphere.

The load-lock moduleincludes a plurality of, for example, two load-lock chambersandalong an atmospheric transfer moduleto be described later and a vacuum transfer module(i.e., vacuum transferer) to be described later in the present embodiment. In one embodiment, the load-lock module(i.e., load-lock) includes the two load-lock chambersandarranged along a first horizontal direction.

The load-lock chambersand(hereinafter, collectively referred to as the “load-lock chamber”) are provided to communicate an interior space of the atmospheric transfer moduleto be described later of the atmospheric portionand an interior space of the vacuum transfer moduleto be described later of the decompression portionthrough a substrate transfer port. Substrate transfer portsandare configured to be opened and closed by gate valvesand, respectively.

The load-lock chamberis configured to temporarily hold the substrate W. The load-lock chamberis configured such that an interior thereof can be switched between an atmospheric atmosphere and a vacuum environment (vacuum state). That is, the load-lock moduleis configured to appropriately transfer the substrate W between the atmospheric portionin an atmospheric atmosphere and the decompression portionin the vacuum environment.

The atmospheric portionincludes the atmospheric transfer moduleincluding a substrate transfer robotto be described later therein, and load portsplaced with hoopscapable of storing the substrates W. An orienter module (not illustrated) that adjusts an orientation of the substrate W in the horizontal direction, a storage module (not illustrated) that stores the substrates W, and the like may be provided adjacent to the atmospheric transfer module.

The atmospheric transfer module includes a housing having rectangular interior, and an interior of the housing is maintained in the atmospheric atmosphere. A plurality of, for example, five load portsare disposed in parallel on one side surface forming a long side of the atmospheric transfer moduleon a Y-axis negative direction side. The load-lock chambersandof the load-lock moduleare disposed in parallel on the other side surface forming a long side of the atmospheric transfer moduleon a Y-axis positive direction side.

The substrate transfer robotthat transfers the substrate W is provided inside the atmospheric transfer module. For example, the substrate transfer robotis configured to move on a transfer pathextending in an X-axis direction and transfer the substrate W between the hoopof the load portand the load-lock chambersandof the load-lock module. A configuration of the substrate transfer robotis not limited thereto.

The decompression portionincludes the vacuum transfer modulethat transfers the substrate W therein, the load-lock module, a substrate processing module(i.e., substrate processor) that performs desired processing on the substrate W transferred from the vacuum transfer module, and a post-processing module(i.e., post processor) that performs post-processing on the substrate W subjected to desired processing by the substrate processing module. An interior of each of the vacuum transfer module, the substrate processing module, and the post-processing moduleis configured to be maintained in the vacuum environment. In the present embodiment, a plurality of, for example, six substrate processing modulesand a plurality of, for example, two post-processing modulesare connected to one vacuum transfer module. The number and disposition of the substrate processing modulesand the post-processing modulesare not limited to the present embodiment and may be set freely.

The vacuum transfer moduleincludes a housinghaving a planar rectangular shape. As illustrated in, the housingis supported by a frame F, and is thus suspended above a floor surface of a room in which the substrate processing systemis disposed. Accordingly, a lower space S (see) is formed below the vacuum transfer moduleas to be described later. Substrate transfer portsto which various modules to be described later are connected are formed in the housing. A substrate transfer space in the vacuum transfer modulecommunicates with interiors of the various modules to be described later through the substrate transfer ports.

The vacuum transfer modulehas a first side surface, a second side surfaceon a side opposite to the first side surface, and a bottom surface. One or more first side surface side modules (first substrate processing modules or first substrate processors), three in the present embodiment, are connected to the first side surfaceon an X-axis positive direction side of the housing. One or more second side surface side modules (second substrate processing modules or second substrate processors), three in the present embodiment, are connected to the second side surfaceon an X-axis negative direction side of the housing. That is, the substrate processing systemincludes the substrate processing modules, and the substrate processing modules include the first substrate processing modulesand the second substrate processing modules. The atmospheric transfer moduleis connected to a front surface of the housingon the Y-axis negative direction side via the load-lock module. One or more post-processing modules (other substrate processing modules), two in the present embodiment, are connected to a back surface of the housingon the Y-axis positive direction side. As to be described later, the substrate processing modulesinclude the first side surface side modulesand the second side surface side modules. Therefore, the vacuum transfer moduleis connected to one or more substrate processing modules. In the vacuum transfer module, for example, the substrate W transferred into the load-lock chamberof the load-lock moduleis sequentially transferred into one substrate processing moduleand one post-processing moduleand is processed, and then transferred to the atmospheric portionthrough the load-lock chamberof the load-lock module.

An openingis formed in the bottom surfaceforming the housing. The openingis formed at a position offset from a center of the housingin the X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction. Therefore, a distance Dfrom the first side surfaceof the housingto the openingis larger than a distance Dfrom the second side surfaceof the housingto the opening.

The substrate processing systemincludes a substrate transfer robotdisposed inside the vacuum transfer module. The substrate transfer robotis configured to transfer the substrate W between the load-lock module, the one or more substrate processing modules, and the one or more post-processing modules. In one embodiment, the substrate transfer robotis detachably attached to the vacuum transfer moduleto close the opening, and is configured to transfer the substrate W in the vacuum transfer module. The substrate transfer robotcan be taken out from the openinginto the lower space S.

is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of the substrate transfer robot. As illustrated in, the substrate transfer robotincludes a first armhaving one end rotatably connected to a base, a second armhaving one end rotatably connected to the other end of the first arm, a third armrotatably connected to the other end of the second arm, and a fourth armrotatably connected to the other end of the second arm.

Further, an upper forkand a lower forkfor holding the substrate W are connected to the other ends of the third armand the fourth arm, respectively. The upper forkand the lower forkare disposed to overlap each other in a lengthwise direction with the upper forkon an upper side. Therefore, the substrate transfer robotcan transfer two substrates W at the same time in an overlapping manner in the lengthwise direction. The upper forkand the lower forkare configured to be independently rotatable around a vertical axis as to be described later.

The basesupports a main body of the substrate transfer robot on an upper surface thereof via a first jointto be described later. In the present embodiment, the main body of the substrate transfer robot includes the first arm, the second arm, the third arm, the fourth arm, the upper fork, and the lower fork. The baseis fitted into the openingformed in the housingdescribed above and connected to the vacuum transfer module, and accordingly, the substrate transfer robotsupported on the upper surface thereof is loaded into the vacuum transfer module. A method for connecting the baseto the housing(a method for loading and unloading the substrate transfer robotinto and from the vacuum transfer module) will be described in detail later.

The first armis connected to the basevia the first joint. The first jointis provided with, for example, a rotation mechanism (not illustrated) such as a motor. The substrate transfer robotis configured such that the first armis rotatable with respect to the baseby operating the rotation mechanism by a driving mechanism (not illustrated). The second armis connected to the first armvia a second joint. The second jointis provided with, for example, a rotation mechanism (not illustrated) such as a motor. The substrate transfer robotis configured such that the second armis rotatable with respect to the first armby operating the rotation mechanism by a driving mechanism (not illustrated).

The third armand the fourth armare connected to the second armvia a third joint. The third jointis provided with, for example, a rotation mechanism (not illustrated) such as a motor corresponding to each of the third armand the fourth arm. The substrate transfer robotis configured such that the third armand the fourth armare rotatable independently of each other with respect to the second armby operating each of the rotation mechanisms by a driving mechanism (not illustrated).

Electrical wirings for supplying power to the rotation mechanism and the driving mechanism disposed inside the first to third jointstoare connected to, for example, a power source (not illustrated) through an interior of each arm in an atmospheric pressure atmosphere.

The substrate transfer robotcan transfer the substrate W between the load-lock module, the substrate processing module, and the post-processing moduleby the relative expansion and contraction rotation of the arms associated with the operations of the rotation mechanism disposed in each joint.

The substrate processing moduleperforms plasma processing such as an etching process on the substrate W. The substrate processing modulecommunicates with the vacuum transfer modulethrough the substrate transfer portformed in a sidewall surface of the vacuum transfer module, and the substrate transfer portsare configured to be opened and closed by using gate valves. The substrate processing moduleincludes a housing having a vertically long cross-sectional shape that stands upward from the floor surface of the room in which the substrate processing systemis disposed (see). For example, a height position of an upper surface of the substrate processing moduleis larger than a height position of an upper surface of the vacuum transfer module. Therefore, an upper space defined by an upper surface of the housing, the first side surface side modules, and the second side surface side modulesis formed above the vacuum transfer module.

The gate valveis connected to a middle stage of the housing in the lengthwise direction, and a plasma processing chamber for performing processing on the substrate W is disposed. The plasma processing chamber has a plasma processing space. Plasma sources for generating a plasma in the substrate processing module, or gas supply sources or the like (hereinafter, referred to as “gas boxes or the like”) are disposed in an upper portion of the housing. Electrical wirings or the like (hereinafter, referred to as “electric units” or “electric wirings”) connected to a power source for generating the plasma in the substrate processing moduleare disposed on a lower portion of the housing.

In the technique of the present disclosure, the gas boxes or the like include first gas boxes or the like corresponding to the first side surface side modules, respectively, and second gas boxes or the like corresponding to the second side surface side modules, respectively. In the technique of the present disclosure, the electric units include first electric units corresponding to the first side surface side modules, respectively, and second electric units corresponding to the second side surface side modules, respectively.

In the illustrated example, a case has been described in which the substrate processing modulehas the housing having a vertically long cross-sectional shape and the plasma processing chamber, the gas boxes or the like, and the electric units are disposed inside one housing forming the substrate processing module. However, the plasma processing chamber, the gas boxes or the like, and the electric units may be disposed in different housings, respectively. Therefore, each of the substrate processing modulesmay have a plasma processing chamber, a corresponding gas box or the like may be disposed above the substrate processing module, and a corresponding electric unit may be disposed below the substrate processing module. In this case, the gas boxes corresponding to the substrate processing modulesmay be disposed in the upper space formed above the vacuum transfer moduledescribed above.

A configuration of the substrate processing moduleis not particularly limited.

For example, the substrate processing moduleincludes a plasma processing chamber, a substrate support, and a plasma generatoras illustrated in. The plasma processing chamberhas a plasma processing space. The plasma processing chamberhas at least one gas supply port for supplying at least one processing gas into the plasma processing space and at least one gas exhaust port for exhausting the gas from the plasma processing space. The gas supply port is connected to a gas supply, and the gas exhaust port is connected to an exhaust system. The substrate supportis disposed in the plasma processing space and has a substrate support surface for supporting a substrate.

The plasma generatoris configured to generate a plasma from the at least one processing gas supplied into the plasma processing space. The plasma formed in the plasma processing space may be capacitively coupled plasma (CCP), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma (ECR plasma), helicon wave plasma (HWP), surface wave plasma (SWP), or the like. Further, various types of plasma generators, including an alternating current (AC) plasma generator and a direct current (DC) plasma generator, may be used. In one embodiment, an AC signal (AC power) used by the AC plasma generator has a frequency in a range of 100 kHz to 10 GHz. Accordingly, the AC signal includes a radio frequency (RF) signal and a microwave signal. In one embodiment, the RF signal has a frequency in a range of 100 kHz to 150 MHz.

The post-processing moduleserving as other substrate processing modules performs post-processing on the substrate W after the plasma processing in the substrate processing module. In one embodiment, the post-processing moduleperforms ashing using the plasma. The substrate processing modulecommunicates with the vacuum transfer modulethrough the substrate transfer portformed in the sidewall surface of the vacuum transfer module, and the substrate transfer portsare configured to be opened and closed by using gate valves.

A configuration of the post-processing moduleis not particularly limited, and in general, in a post-processing step of the substrate W, a large current and a large capacity are not required as compared with the plasma processing such as the etching processing in the substrate processing moduledescribed above. Therefore, the post-processing modulecan be implemented as a plasma processing apparatus smaller than the substrate processing module.

For example, the post-processing moduleincludes a plasma processing chamber, a substrate support, and a plasma generatoras illustrated in. For example, the plasma processing chamberhas a plasma processing space smaller than that of the substrate processing module(see also). The plasma processing chamberhas at least one gas supply port for supplying at least one processing gas into the plasma processing space and at least one gas exhaust port for exhausting the gas from the plasma processing space. The gas supply port is connected to a gas supply, and the gas exhaust port is connected to an exhaust system. The substrate supportis disposed in the plasma processing space and has a substrate support surface for supporting a substrate.

For example, the plasma generatorhas a plasma generation space separated from the plasma processing space (plasma processing chamber). Therefore, the post-processing moduleis implemented as a remote plasma processing apparatus in which the plasma processing space and the plasma generation space are separated. The plasma processing space and the plasma generation space may be formed, for example, by being partitioned by a partition plate inside one housing, or a housing forming the plasma processing space and a housing forming the plasma generation space may be physically separated from each other.

For example, a boxin which electrical wirings or the like are accommodated is disposed below the housing (plasma processing space and/or plasma generation space) of the post-processing module. For example, the boxis disposed below the vacuum transfer moduleand inside a leg of the frame F that supports the vacuum transfer module.

The plasma processing performed on the substrate W in the substrate processing moduleand the post-processing moduleis performed, for example, under control of a controllerto be described later as also illustrated in.

Returning to the description of the substrate processing system.

As illustrated in, the lower space S defined by the bottom surfaceof the housing, the first side surface side modules, and the second side surface side modulesis formed below the vacuum transfer modulein the decompression portion. In one embodiment, the lower space S is formed to extend from an end of the vacuum transfer moduleon the Y-axis negative direction side to an end thereof on the Y-axis positive direction side. The lower space S provides access to the openingformed in the bottom surfaceof the housingof the vacuum transfer module, that is, to the substrate transfer robotdisposed in the vacuum transfer module. Therefore, the lower space S functions as a workspace for maintenance of the vacuum transfer moduleand the substrate transfer robot, and for loading and unloading the substrate transfer robot.

As illustrated in, the electrical wirings or the like disposed in a lower portion of the first side surface side moduleor the second side surface side modulemay be disposed in a lower portion SI of the lower space S. In other words, in the lower portion SI of the lower space S, an ineffective space (see a hatched portion in) that cannot be used for loading and unloading the substrate transfer robotmay be formed. Therefore, an effective width (first width W) of the lower portion SI of the lower space S that can be used for loading and unloading the substrate transfer robotis less than an effective width (second width W) of an upper portion Su of the lower space S.

As described above, the post-processing modules, more specifically, the boxescorresponding to the respective post-processing modules, are disposed inside the leg of the frame F below the vacuum transfer module, as illustrated in. Therefore, the post-processing modules, more specifically, the boxescorresponding to the respective post-processing modulesdefine a lower space inlet Se communicating with the lower space S. An effective width (third width W) of the lower space inlet Se of the lower space S that can be used for loading and unloading the substrate transfer robotis less than the effective width (second width W) of the upper portion Su of the lower space S described above. The lower space inlet Se of the lower space S has the same effective height Has the lower space S.

The substrate processing systemdescribed above is provided with the controlleras illustrated in. The controllerprocesses computer-executable instructions for causing the substrate processing systemto execute various processes to be described in the present disclosure. The controllermay be configured to control the elements of the substrate processing systemto execute various steps described herein. In one embodiment, a part or all of the controllermay be included in the substrate processing system. The controllermay include a processor, a storage, and a communication interface. The controlleris implemented, for example, by a computer. The processormay be configured to read a program from the storageand perform various control operations by executing the read program. The program may be stored in advance in the storage, or may be acquired via a medium when necessary. The acquired program is stored in the storage, read from the storageby the processor, and executed thereby. The medium may be any of various recording media readable by the computer, or may be a communication line connected to the communication interface. The processormay be a central processing unit (CPU). The storagemay include a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or a combination thereof. The communication interfacemay communicate with the substrate processing systemvia a communication line such as a local area network (LAN). Further, the storage medium may be temporary or non-temporary medium. The functionality of the elements disclosed herein may be implemented using circuitry or processing circuitry which includes general purpose processors, special purpose processors, integrated circuits, ASICs (“Application Specific Integrated Circuits”), FPGAs (“Field-Programmable Gate Arrays”), conventional circuitry and/or combinations thereof which are programmed, using one or more programs stored in one or more memories, or otherwise configured to perform the disclosed functionality. Processors and controllers are considered processing circuitry or circuitry as they include transistors and other circuitry therein. In the disclosure, the circuitry, units, or means are hardware that carry out or are programmed to perform the recited functionality. The hardware may be any hardware disclosed herein which is programmed or configured to carry out the recited functionality. There is a memory that stores a computer program which includes computer instructions. These computer instructions provide the logic and routines that enable the hardware (e.g., processing circuitry or circuitry) to perform the method disclosed herein. This computer program can be implemented in known formats as a computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product, a memory device, a record medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD, and/or the memory of a FPGA or ASIC.

Next, a method for transferring the substrate transfer robotto the vacuum transfer modulein the substrate processing systemimplemented as described above will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.